Woke up and threw on our recently acquired floral patterned shirts in preparation for the biggest annual celebration in Thailand; Skngkran. Songkran is a country-wide event that canast anywhere from 3 to 10 days depending on where you are in the country, and it’s essentially a massive water gun fight in the streets, complete with music and drinks.
Before we went to join in the festivities, we took a boat over to a market made of twisting and turning alleyway stalls. When we first entered the market, there were a number of vendors selling bubble teas and milk teas, so I started with a very tasty Hokkaida Bubble Milk Tea with a roasted marshmellow over top. It was easily one of the best drinks I’ve had, tasting of brown sugar and campfires. We walked around for a little while souvenir shopping, but the heat got to a point where it it was hard to think of much else. So, we ventured back to the boat stop to catch the next boat back to our hotel.
We got back, swam in the pool, and then relaxed in our room for a bit whilst planning out how we would tackle Songkran. At around 2:00 p.m., we decide to head over to the area where the festival is most celebrated and grab a drink at the Botanical Backyard, the same bar we visited the day prior. We didn’t even make it down 2 streets before getting ambushed by the water gun wielding passerbys.
We made it to the bar, still somewhat dry, and ordered some drinks on the patio to watch the people passing by. The restaurant workers had a small pool of water nearby to refill water guns and buckets and drench people as they walked by as we sat on the sidelines enjoying our oversized beverages. Armed with a recently purchased water gun of our own and a small bucket, we finished our drinks and decided to try and walk down the main street of the festival in Bangkok, Khao San Road.
While typically a bustling street with vendors flanking either side, during the festival, it was a sea of people, rendering movement through the street nearly impossible, much less shopping. It is akin to waiting in a queue while the people on the sides throw water in the middle. While it was a lot of fun seeing so many people enjoying Songkran, the side alleys were definitely the places to be throughout the day. After getting separated in the crowd for a bit, we regrouped for dinner. I got some Thai style fried rice, and my dad ordered some Pad Thai, which we enjoyed until dark. Although it was still only 8:00pm, we decided to pack it in and head back to the hotel. Considering we were catching a taxi to the airport the following morning at 4:00am, we wanted what rest we could get before the very long trek home.
Home 